tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36269605797863650812018-03-06T00:41:57.300+08:00Its Liverpool's KneeSamuel Weenoreply@blogger.comBlogger242125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3626960579786365081.post-90841288280002114982015-08-09T18:31:00.002+08:002015-08-09T18:31:19.029+08:00Maradona & Messi<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/vpjXpBLImyk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>Samuel Weenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3626960579786365081.post-57612702478638898572015-08-09T18:13:00.000+08:002015-08-09T18:13:00.809+08:00When Lineker Met Maradona<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/gNM5Yckdsag" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>Samuel Weenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3626960579786365081.post-11107449754637091252014-04-02T10:17:00.000+08:002014-04-02T10:17:05.998+08:00Carra on Suarez<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/IL499EWRwOI?feature=player_embedded" width="640"></iframe>Samuel Weenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3626960579786365081.post-4506468196977213912014-03-29T09:20:00.001+08:002014-03-29T09:20:16.135+08:00Brendan Rodgers: 'The day Jose left Chelsea, it felt like someone had died'<a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/brendan-rodgers-the-day-jose-left-chelsea-it-felt-like-someone-had-died-2271087.html">Source</a><br /><div class="widget slideshow default widget-editable viziwyg-section-1024 inpage-widget-7804719" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; clear: both; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 1.3em; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 6px; orphans: auto; outline: none; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: relative; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; z-index: 1;"><div class="indLoading" id="galleriaLoadId-7804719" style="background-color: #dddddd; display: block; height: 610px; left: 0px; outline: none; overflow: hidden; position: relative; top: 0px; width: 620px; z-index: 10000;"><div id="slideshow-7804719" style="outline: none;"><div class="galleria-container notouch" style="background-color: #dddddd; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; clear: both; height: 570px; margin: 0px auto; outline: none; overflow: hidden; position: relative; width: 620px;"><div class="galleria-stage" style="bottom: 60px; height: 610px; left: 0px; outline: none; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; right: 0px; top: 0px;"><div class="galleria-images" style="height: 610px; left: 0px; outline: none; position: relative; top: 0px; width: 620px;"><div class="galleria-image" style="-webkit-transition: none; height: 610px; left: 0px; opacity: 1; outline: none; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; top: 0px; transition: none; width: 620px; z-index: 1;"><img src="http://www.independent.co.uk/migration_catalog/article5296138.ece/ALTERNATES/w620/Pg-60-rodgers-getty.jpeg" height="610" style="border: 0px none; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 610px; left: 81px; max-height: none; max-width: none; min-height: 0px; min-width: 0px; opacity: 1; outline: none; position: absolute; top: 0px; width: 458px;" width="458" /></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="widget storyContent article widget-editable viziwyg-section-1024 inpage-widget-6138720" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 1.3em; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6px; orphans: auto; outline: none; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"><h3 class="subtitle" style="color: #6a748d; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 1.5em; font-weight: normal; margin-top: 0px; outline: none;">The Brian Viner Interview: The Northern Irishman learnt his management skills under Mourinho. Now he aims to apply them with Swansea in the Premier League</h3></div><div class="x620 articleByTimeLocation" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; border-bottom-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1.1em; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 10px; orphans: auto; outline: none; overflow: visible !important; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; width: 620px; word-spacing: 0px;"><div class="column-1" style="outline: none; width: 620px;"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><br /><div class="widget storyContent article widget-editable viziwyg-section-1024 inpage-widget-6138717" style="display: inline-block; font-size: 1em; margin: 4px 0px 2px; outline: none;"><div class="dateline" style="color: #6a748d; float: left; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 1em; margin: 3px 0px; outline: none; text-transform: uppercase;">Friday 22 April 2011</div></div></div></div><div class="x620 clear share-tools-ctr" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; border-bottom-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; clear: both; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; height: 31px; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 10px; orphans: auto; outline: none; overflow: visible !important; padding: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; width: 620px; word-spacing: 0px;"><div class="column-1" style="outline: none; width: 620px;"><div class="widget code html widget-editable viziwyg-section-507 inpage-widget-8674163" id="componentDiv_gig_containerParent" style="font-size: 1.3em; margin-bottom: 6px; outline: none;"><div class="gigya-share-btns" id="componentDiv" style="float: left; outline: none; visibility: visible;"><div class="gig-bar-container gig-share-bar-container" style="outline: none;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; color: #4d4d4d; float: none; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; width: auto;"><tbody style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; color: #4d4d4d; float: none; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; width: auto;"><tr style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; color: #4d4d4d; float: none; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; width: auto;"><td style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; color: #4d4d4d; float: none; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: middle; white-space: nowrap; width: auto; zoom: 1;"><div class="gig-button-container gig-button-container-count-none gig-button-container-facebook gig-button-container-facebook-count-none gig-share-button-container gig-button-container-horizontal" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; color: #4d4d4d; display: inline-block; float: none; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; margin: 0px 0px 5px; outline: none; padding: 0px !important; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: top; width: auto;"><div alt="Share on Facebook" class="gig-button gig-share-button gig-button-up gig-button-count-none" id="componentDiv-reaction0" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; color: #4d4d4d; cursor: pointer; float: none; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; width: auto;" title="Share on Facebook"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; color: #4d4d4d; float: none; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; width: auto;"><tbody style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; color: #4d4d4d; float: none; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; width: auto;"><tr style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; color: #4d4d4d; float: none; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; width: auto;"><td id="componentDiv-reaction0-left" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; color: #4d4d4d; float: none; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; width: auto;"><br /></td><td id="componentDiv-reaction0-icon" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; color: #4d4d4d; float: none; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: middle; width: auto; zoom: 1;"><img alt="" src="http://www.independent.co.uk/independent.co.uk/assets/images/redesign/sharebtns/facebook.png" id="componentDiv-reaction0-icon_img" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; color: #4d4d4d; display: block; float: none; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; width: auto;" /></td><td id="componentDiv-reaction0-right" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; color: #4d4d4d; float: none; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; width: auto;"><br /></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div></td><td style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; color: #4d4d4d; float: none; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: middle; white-space: nowrap; width: auto; zoom: 1;"><div class="gig-button-container gig-button-container-count-none gig-button-container-twitter gig-button-container-twitter-count-none gig-share-button-container gig-button-container-horizontal" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; color: #4d4d4d; display: inline-block; float: none; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; margin: 0px 0px 5px; outline: none; padding: 0px !important; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: top; width: auto;"><div alt="Share on Twitter" class="gig-button gig-share-button gig-button-up gig-button-count-none" id="componentDiv-reaction1" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; color: #4d4d4d; cursor: pointer; float: none; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; width: auto;" title="Share on Twitter"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; color: #4d4d4d; float: none; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; width: auto;"><tbody style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; color: #4d4d4d; float: none; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; width: auto;"><tr style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; color: #4d4d4d; float: none; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; width: auto;"><td id="componentDiv-reaction1-left" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; color: #4d4d4d; float: none; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; width: auto;"><br /></td><td id="componentDiv-reaction1-icon" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; color: #4d4d4d; float: none; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: middle; width: auto; zoom: 1;"><img alt="" src="http://www.independent.co.uk/independent.co.uk/assets/images/redesign/sharebtns/twitter.png" id="componentDiv-reaction1-icon_img" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; color: #4d4d4d; display: block; float: none; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; width: auto;" /></td><td id="componentDiv-reaction1-right" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; color: #4d4d4d; float: none; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; width: auto;"><br /></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div></td><td style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; color: #4d4d4d; float: none; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: middle; white-space: nowrap; width: auto; zoom: 1;"><div class="gig-button-container gig-button-container-count-none gig-button-container-googleplus gig-button-container-googleplus-count-none gig-share-button-container gig-button-container-horizontal" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; color: #4d4d4d; display: inline-block; float: none; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; margin: 0px 0px 5px; outline: none; padding: 0px !important; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: top; width: auto;"><div alt="Share on Google+" class="gig-button gig-share-button gig-button-up gig-button-count-none" id="componentDiv-reaction2" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; color: #4d4d4d; cursor: pointer; float: none; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; width: auto;" title="Share on Google+"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; color: #4d4d4d; float: none; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; width: auto;"><tbody style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; color: #4d4d4d; float: none; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; width: auto;"><tr style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; color: #4d4d4d; float: none; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; width: auto;"><td id="componentDiv-reaction2-left" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; color: #4d4d4d; float: none; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; width: auto;"><br /></td><td id="componentDiv-reaction2-icon" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; color: #4d4d4d; float: none; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: middle; width: auto; zoom: 1;"><img alt="" src="http://www.independent.co.uk/independent.co.uk/assets/images/redesign/sharebtns/googleplus.png" id="componentDiv-reaction2-icon_img" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; color: #4d4d4d; display: block; float: none; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; width: auto;" /></td><td id="componentDiv-reaction2-right" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; color: #4d4d4d; float: none; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; width: auto;"><br /></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div></td><td style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; color: #4d4d4d; float: none; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: middle; white-space: nowrap; width: auto; zoom: 1;"><div class="gig-button-container gig-button-container-count-none gig-button-container-reddit gig-button-container-reddit-count-none gig-share-button-container gig-button-container-horizontal" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; color: #4d4d4d; display: inline-block; float: none; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; margin: 0px 0px 5px; outline: none; padding: 0px !important; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: top; width: auto;"><div alt="Share on Reddit" class="gig-button gig-share-button gig-button-up gig-button-count-none" id="componentDiv-reaction3" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; color: #4d4d4d; cursor: pointer; float: none; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; width: auto;" title="Share on Reddit"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; color: #4d4d4d; float: none; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; width: auto;"><tbody style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; color: #4d4d4d; float: none; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; width: auto;"><tr style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; color: #4d4d4d; float: none; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; width: auto;"><td id="componentDiv-reaction3-left" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; color: #4d4d4d; float: none; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; width: auto;"><br /></td><td id="componentDiv-reaction3-icon" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; color: #4d4d4d; float: none; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: middle; width: auto; zoom: 1;"><img alt="" src="http://www.independent.co.uk/independent.co.uk/assets/images/redesign/sharebtns/reddit.png" id="componentDiv-reaction3-icon_img" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; color: #4d4d4d; display: block; float: none; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; width: auto;" /></td><td id="componentDiv-reaction3-right" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; color: #4d4d4d; float: none; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; width: auto;"><br /></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div></td><td style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; color: #4d4d4d; float: none; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: middle; white-space: nowrap; width: auto; zoom: 1;"><div class="gig-button-container gig-button-container-count-none gig-button-container-linkedin gig-button-container-linkedin-count-none gig-share-button-container gig-button-container-horizontal" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; color: #4d4d4d; display: inline-block; float: none; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; margin: 0px 0px 5px; outline: none; padding: 0px !important; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: top; width: auto;"><div alt="Share on LinkedIn" class="gig-button gig-share-button gig-button-up gig-button-count-none" id="componentDiv-reaction4" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; color: #4d4d4d; cursor: pointer; float: none; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; width: auto;" title="Share on LinkedIn"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; color: #4d4d4d; float: none; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; width: auto;"><tbody style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; color: #4d4d4d; float: none; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; width: auto;"><tr style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; color: #4d4d4d; float: none; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; width: auto;"><td id="componentDiv-reaction4-left" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; color: #4d4d4d; float: none; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; width: auto;"><br /></td><td id="componentDiv-reaction4-icon" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; color: #4d4d4d; float: none; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: middle; width: auto; zoom: 1;"><img alt="" src="http://www.independent.co.uk/independent.co.uk/assets/images/redesign/sharebtns/linkedin.png" id="componentDiv-reaction4-icon_img" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; color: #4d4d4d; display: block; float: none; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; width: auto;" /></td><td id="componentDiv-reaction4-right" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; color: #4d4d4d; float: none; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; width: auto;"><br /></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div></td><td style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; color: #4d4d4d; float: none; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: middle; white-space: nowrap; width: auto; zoom: 1;"><div class="gig-button-container gig-button-container-count-right gig-button-container-share gig-button-container-share-count-right gig-share-button-container gig-button-container-horizontal" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; color: #4d4d4d; display: inline-block; float: none; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; margin: 0px 0px 5px; outline: none; padding: 0px !important; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: top; width: auto;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; color: #4d4d4d; float: none; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; width: auto;"><tbody style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; color: #4d4d4d; float: none; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; width: auto;"><tr style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; color: #4d4d4d; float: none; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; width: auto;"><td class="gig-button-td" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; color: #4d4d4d; float: none; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: middle; width: auto;"><div alt="Share" class="gig-button gig-share-button gig-button-up gig-button-count-right" id="componentDiv-reaction5" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; color: #4d4d4d; cursor: pointer; float: none; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; width: auto;" title="Share"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; color: #4d4d4d; float: none; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; width: auto;"><tbody style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; color: #4d4d4d; float: none; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; width: auto;"><tr style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; color: #4d4d4d; float: none; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; width: auto;"><td id="componentDiv-reaction5-left" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; color: #4d4d4d; float: none; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; width: auto;"><br /></td><td id="componentDiv-reaction5-icon" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; color: #4d4d4d; float: none; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: middle; width: auto; zoom: 1;"><img alt="" src="http://www.independent.co.uk/independent.co.uk/assets/images/redesign/sharebtns/share.png" id="componentDiv-reaction5-icon_img" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; color: #4d4d4d; display: block; float: none; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; width: auto;" /></td><td id="componentDiv-reaction5-right" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; color: #4d4d4d; float: none; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; width: auto;"><br /></td></tr></tbody></table></div></td><td style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; color: #4d4d4d; float: none; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; width: auto;"><div class="gig-counter gig-share-counter gig-counter-$rid gig-counter-right" id="componentDiv-reaction5-count" style="background-image: url(http://cdn.gigya.com/gs/GetSprite.ashx?path=%2FshareBar%2Fbutton%2Fbutton%5Bleft%2Cright%5DImg%5Bup%2Cover%5D.png%7C2%2C20%5E%2FshareBar%2Fbutton%2FrightCountImg.png%7C38%2C20%5E%2Fsharebar%2Ficons%2F%5Bfacebook%2Ctwitter%2Cgoogleplus%2Creddit%2Clinkedin%2Cshare%5D.png%7C16%2C16); background-position: -8px 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-left-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-left-width: 1px; border-style: none none none solid; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; color: rgb(162, 165, 168) !important; float: none; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 10px; height: 20px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px auto 0px 5px; outline: none; padding: 0px; position: static; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: middle; width: 38px; zoom: 1;"><span class="gig-counter-text gig-share-counter-text gig-counter-text-right gig-share-counter-text-right" id="componentDiv-reaction5-count-value" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: none; color: #6a748d; float: none; font-family: 'normal Georgia', arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; left: 1px; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px 0px 0px 5px; position: relative; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: middle; width: auto; zoom: 1;">329</span></div></td></tr></tbody></table></div></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div></div><div class="widget pageTools custom widget-editable viziwyg-section-1024 inpage-widget-6138653 article-links" style="display: inline; float: right; font-family: Georgia, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1em; margin: 0px 5px 1px 0px; outline: none; padding-top: 2px; text-transform: uppercase;"><div class="article-links" style="display: inline; float: right; font-family: Georgia, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1em; margin-bottom: 1px; outline: none; padding-top: 2px; text-align: right; text-transform: uppercase; width: auto;"><div class="print-link" style="border-right-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; display: inline; float: left; margin: 3px 0px -2px; outline: none; padding: 0px 5px 0px 0px; text-align: right; width: auto;"><a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/brendan-rodgers-the-day-jose-left-chelsea-it-felt-like-someone-had-died-2271087.html#" id="showPrintPage" style="color: #6a748d; font-family: normal, 'Open Sans', sans-serif !important; font-size: 10px !important; font-style: normal !important; font-variant: normal !important; font-weight: normal !important; line-height: normal !important; outline: none; text-decoration: none;">PRINT</a></div><div class="enlarge-font" style="display: inline; float: right; margin-bottom: 2px; margin-left: 2px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 3px !important; outline: none; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 2px !important; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: right; width: auto;"><a class="small-font" href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/brendan-rodgers-the-day-jose-left-chelsea-it-felt-like-someone-had-died-2271087.html#" id="pageToolsSmallFont" style="color: #6a748d; font-family: normal, 'Open Sans', sans-serif !important; font-size: 0.8em; font-style: normal !important; font-variant: normal !important; font-weight: normal !important; line-height: normal !important; outline: none; text-decoration: none;">A</a><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><a class="medium-font" href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/brendan-rodgers-the-day-jose-left-chelsea-it-felt-like-someone-had-died-2271087.html#" id="pagetToolsMediumFont" style="color: #6a748d; font-family: normal, 'Open Sans', sans-serif !important; font-size: 1em; font-style: normal !important; font-variant: normal !important; font-weight: normal !important; line-height: normal !important; outline: none; text-decoration: none;">A</a><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><a class="large-font" href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/brendan-rodgers-the-day-jose-left-chelsea-it-felt-like-someone-had-died-2271087.html#" id="pageToolsLargeFont" style="color: #6a748d; font-family: normal, 'Open Sans', sans-serif !important; font-size: 1.2em; font-style: normal !important; font-variant: normal !important; font-weight: normal !important; line-height: normal !important; outline: none; text-decoration: none;">A</a></div></div></div></div></div><div class="x460x140 floatingColumns" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; outline: none; overflow: hidden; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; width: 620px; word-spacing: 0px;"><div class="column-1" style="float: left; min-height: 5416px; outline: none; width: 460px;"><div class="widget storyContent article widget-editable viziwyg-section-1024 inpage-widget-8939454 articleContent" style="font-size: 1.3em; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: -12px !important; outline: none;"><span class="storyTop " style="line-height: 1.4; margin-bottom: 0px; outline: none;"></span><br /><div style="font-size: 15px !important; line-height: 22px; outline: none;"><span class="storyTop " style="line-height: 1.4; margin-bottom: 0px; outline: none;">A tiny office, scarcely larger than a broom cupboard, in the Glamorgan Health &amp; Racquets Club just outside Neath would not be Jose Mourinho's idea of a command centre, and yet this is where his protégé Brendan Rodgers, once Chelsea's reserve team coach, is plotting to take Swansea City back to the big time. "I had three and a half years with Jose," says Rodgers. "It was like being at Harvard University."</span></div><span class="storyTop " style="line-height: 1.4; margin-bottom: 0px; outline: none;"></span></div><div class="widget storyContent article widget-editable viziwyg-section-1024 inpage-widget-6138699 articleContent" style="font-size: 1.3em; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: -12px !important; outline: none;"><div class="body " style="line-height: 1.4; outline: none;"><div style="font-size: 15px !important; line-height: 22px; margin-top: 0px; outline: none;">If this intense, 38-year-old Northern Irishman does lead Swansea back into the top tier, which they last graced in 1982-83 only for one of the most precipitous climbs in the history of English football to be followed by one of the more disastrous plunges, almost into extinction, then he will add a further dimension to his own Harvard analogy, finally graduating from Professor Mourinho's class magna cum laude. But the prospect of automatic promotion to the Premier League has been undermined by a disastrous run of four consecutive away defeats. A fifth, at Portsmouth tomorrow, would make even the play-offs less than a dead cert.</div><div style="font-size: 15px !important; line-height: 22px; outline: none;">This office is too small to fill with negativity, however, so let's contemplate promotion. They say there's such a thing as not being ready for the Premier League; does Rodgers think the Swans are ready to stick their necks out in such august company?</div><div style="font-size: 15px !important; line-height: 22px; outline: none;">The ghost of a smile. "I'd say we're similar to Blackpool last year, or Burnley before that. You can't wait until you're ready because you might never be ready. Obviously there are still plenty of things to be done, in terms of infrastructure, and the training ground. We must be the only Championship club that showers with its supporters. So the Premier League and the money that comes with it would help secure this club for years to come. Are we ready? No. But we would jump at the chance to play at Old Trafford and Stamford Bridge. The aim this season was to finish in or around the top six. Promotion would be a dream."</div><div style="font-size: 15px !important; line-height: 22px; outline: none;">Rodgers is keenly aware of Swansea's halcyon period three decades ago, not least because his first-team coach is Alan Curtis, one of the goal-scoring heroes of those years. He knows, too, all about the tumultuous times on the brink of bankruptcy, and indeed the brink of non-League football, averted on the final day of the 2002-03 season. Since then, though, a consortium of local businessmen has restored financial stability, backed up by two notably astute choices of manager. One was Roberto Martinez, now at Wigan. The other is Rodgers, who was appointed last July and has got Swansea playing, in the opinion of some, the most attractive football in the Championship. "My philosophy is to play creative attacking football with tactical discipline, but you have to validate that with success," he says.</div><div style="font-size: 15px !important; line-height: 22px; outline: none;">Hard work is the other bulwark of his philosophy. The work ethic was forged in the working-class, mostly Catholic village of Carnlough on the Antrim coast, where he grew up the eldest of five brothers, watching his father, a painter-decorator, graft relentlessly to give the family every affordable comfort. "He and my mother set in place the values and morals that are with us to this day," says Rodgers. "They were the best role models we could have had."</div><div style="font-size: 15px !important; line-height: 22px; outline: none;">At St Patrick's College in Ballymena, his skills as a footballer were spotted by Manchester United scout Eddie Coulter, who more recently unearthed Jonny Evans. It was early in the Alex Ferguson era and Rodgers used to travel to Manchester to represent United at schoolboy level with a lad called Adrian Doherty, a tricky left-winger considered an Ulster discovery almost in the George Best class.</div><div style="font-size: 15px !important; line-height: 22px; outline: none;">"They called him 'the Doc', and Ryan Giggs, the Nevilles, they will all tell you he was the best player they ever played with at that level. I remember being at Reading with Jim Leighton, who was on loan from United at the time, and he waxed lyrical about 'the Doc'. He was an incredible player, but he got badly injured in a reserve game, which set his career on a downward path, and a few years ago, very sadly, he drowned in a canal, in Holland."</div><div style="font-size: 15px !important; line-height: 22px; outline: none;">Doherty was just 26 when he died in 2000, all that youthful promise already just fodder for anecdotes. Rodgers' own youthful promise, though far more limited, had much happier consequences. United let him go to Reading, where he captained the youth team and later hovered on the fringes of the first team, but a series of injuries, compounded by the realisation that even at peak fitness he would never cut it at the level he aspired to, made him resolve to become a coach, starting with the Reading youth team.</div><div style="font-size: 15px !important; line-height: 22px; outline: none;">"From that moment I set off on a journey to be the very best I could be," he says. "Someone told me that if I could speak another language it would help me at a higher level of the game, so I studied Spanish twice a week with a guy called Julio Delgado, whose son was a British tennis player, Jamie Delgado." Rodgers' self-improvement campaign began with football, however, and his reputation as an innovative young coach soon extended beyond the Thames Valley. In 2004 the recently-appointed manager of Chelsea invited him for an interview.</div><div style="font-size: 15px !important; line-height: 22px; outline: none;">"Jose played 4-3-3, or a 4-4-2 diamond, and he wanted a coach to implement his methodology. As you can imagine I was nervous meeting him, a guy I'd read a book about. But he was brilliant, and made me his first external appointment. He took me under his wing a wee bit, maybe because he saw something different in me, or maybe there was a bit of empathy because, like him, I hadn't had the big playing career. Anyway, that started one of the best times of my life. Jose had learnt from his mentor, Louis van Gaal, and I learnt from him, that there must never be a lazy day in training, and that preparation is vital."</div><div style="font-size: 15px !important; line-height: 22px; outline: none;">At this point Rodgers takes two strides to the other side of his office and picks up a bundle of diagrams, detailing his forthcoming training exercises. Multi-coloured and minutely detailed, they could just as easily be infantry plans for the Battle of the Bulge. "This is what Jose taught me," he says. "And when the players see them, they are energised. They think 'he's put some thought into this'."</div><div style="font-size: 15px !important; line-height: 22px; outline: none;">He also took careful note of Mourinho's celebrated man-management skills. "Jose struck a perfect balance between putting them on edge, and supporting them. He'd let them feel the pressure to win, but then be able to take that pressure off them. He could be their friend, or their worst enemy. I'd already worked with Steve Coppell, a fantastic man, very respectful of his players, but here was a guy who took it to a different level, that integration of coaching and management. The day Jose left Chelsea, it felt like someone had died."</div><div style="font-size: 15px !important; line-height: 22px; outline: none;">Rodgers then worked with Mourinho's successors Avram Grant and Luiz Felipe Scolari before deciding that he was ready to become a manager in his own right. "I'd had a great apprenticeship. I'd gone from the park to the peak. So I spoke to Milan Mandaric about the Leicester job, but he decided to go for experience and appointed Gary Megson." The disappointment intensified his desire to get onto the managerial merry-go-round, and in November 2008 he did so, at Watford. Seven months later, he seized the chance to succeed Coppell at Reading. And barely six months after that, the merry-go-round threw him off. It was the first serious bruising of his career, the first stumble downwards in what had been a steady upward trajectory. And it came at the hands of John Madejski, the chairman who had known him since he was a teenager.</div><div style="font-size: 15px !important; line-height: 22px; outline: none;">"I was at a club I loved, working for people I wanted to do well for, trying to implement things I knew would take time, and I felt I would be given that time. The season hadn't been great, but we were picking up." On 15 December 2009 Rodgers enjoyed himself at the club Christmas party. The next day he was asked to see Madejski at the stadium, without the slightest idea that he was about to be fired.</div><div style="font-size: 15px !important; line-height: 22px; outline: none;">"But I knew as soon as I walked in. He's a good man, and I know it wasn't easy for him, but it was a lonely drive home. Then, in early February last year, my mother passed away suddenly. She was only 53, a sudden heart attack. I used to speak to her every day, so with losing her, and no football, there were two massive voids in my life. It took a few months and a lot of self-evaluation before I thought about finding another club. I like to win in a certain style, I like my teams to control and dominate games, so I knew it couldn't be any club."</div><div style="font-size: 15px !important; line-height: 22px; outline: none;">Swansea seemed like a good fit, and on being appointed last summer Rodgers promptly moved his family from Reading, where he had lived since moving from Northern Ireland. South Wales reminds him of home, he says. "It's very working-class, and the people are fantastic. I say to every player I bring here, the likes of Scotty Sinclair, 'don't just come for the football, come and enjoy the life down here'."</div><div style="font-size: 15px !important; line-height: 22px; outline: none;">It could yet be, of course, that South Wales has a pair of Premier League clubs next season. Does he relish the idea, or has he bought into the fans' notion that nothing except fire and brimstone is to be wished upon Cardiff City? He smiles. "I understand that mentality. A lot of people think Wales finishes at Cardiff. They've put a multi-billion pound investment into the train track from London, and cut it off at Cardiff. But the Premier League will be a better place if it has two Welsh teams, with all that passionate support."</div><div style="font-size: 15px !important; line-height: 22px; outline: none;">His chances of guiding Swansea to promotion, he adds, have been substantially improved by what happened at Reading. "It made me a better manager, better in every way, and not only for myself but for others. Now, when other managers are removed from their jobs, I'm straight onto them, because you understand what that loneliness is like. I'll never forget what Neil Warnock said to me early on in the season. He shook my hand, and said 'it's brilliant you're back, you can be a top manager, but now you've got to bloody stay in'. That's right. I've been outside looking in, and my aim now is to stay in. Of course I have my goals. I've had a smell of the Champions League with Chelsea, and I want to manage at that level. But I'm looking no further than Swansea as a place to achieve my ambitions."</div><div style="font-size: 15px !important; line-height: 22px; outline: none;">He might need a slightly bigger office.</div></div></div></div></div>Samuel Weenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3626960579786365081.post-4288481847882509102014-03-29T08:59:00.001+08:002014-03-29T08:59:20.735+08:00From big mac to big cheese! How Brendan Rodgers swapped scrapheap for top table<a href="http://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/467439/From-big-mac-to-big-cheese-How-Brendan-Rodgers-swapped-scrapheap-for-top-table">Source&nbsp;</a><br /><br /><header class="clearfix" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 13px; margin: 0px; orphans: auto; padding: 0px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"><h1 style="border: 0px; color: #292221; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 40px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 46px; margin: 0px 0px 22px; padding: 0px;"></h1><h3 style="border: 0px; clear: left; color: #292221; font-family: Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 21px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px;">BRENDAN RODGERS does not just reel off the rough date football turned its back on him. He can recall the precise day of the week - even the exact minute.</h3><div class="panel" id="componentDiv_gig_containerParent" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(212, 212, 212); border-bottom-style: solid; border-top-color: rgb(212, 212, 212); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 1px 0px; height: 33px; margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 590px; z-index: 2;"><div class="publish-info" style="border: 0px; float: left; margin: 3px 0px 0px; padding: 0px;"><div class="author" itemprop="author" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person" style="border: 0px; color: #292221; float: left; font-size: 12px; height: 13px; margin: 0px 0px 2px; max-width: 215px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px;" title="Paul Joyce">By:<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><a href="http://www.express.co.uk/search/Paul+Joyce?s=Paul+Joyce&amp;b=1" itemprop="name" style="border: 0px; color: #bb1a00; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Paul Joyce</a></div><time datetime="2014-03-29T00:01:00Z" pubdate="" style="border: 0px; 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text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"><div class="clearfix hR new-style" style="border: 0px; height: auto; margin: 0px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px;"><section class="photo" style="border: 0px; display: block; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div style="border: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 16px; padding: 0px; position: relative;"><img alt="Liverpool" src="http://cdn.images.express.co.uk/img/dynamic/67/590x/rodgers.gif-467439.jpg" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: 590px;" /><span class="photo-caption nointellitxt ctx_blocked" style="background-attachment: scroll; background-image: url(http://cdn.images.express.co.uk/img/page/caption_t_fix.png); background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: repeat repeat; border: 0px; bottom: 0px; color: white; font-family: Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; left: 0px; line-height: 13px; margin: 0px; padding: 3px 10px; position: absolute; right: 0px; z-index: 2;">Brendan Rodgers remembers the time and date that he was sacked by Reading[GETTY]</span></div></section><section class="text-description" style="border: 0px; color: #333333; display: block; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px;"><div class="storycopy" style="border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px;">Over the six months that followed the man now lauded throughout England for leading Liverpool's title challenge into the final throes of the season, staring down both Chelsea and Manchester City, would go on to hit rock bottom.</div><div class="storycopy" style="border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px;">Rejection was followed by bereavement, and frustration, before a shot at redemption arrived while he was sitting with his kids in McDonald's.</div><div class="storycopy" style="border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px;">As Liverpool tear up the Premier League such a scenario seems like a lifetime ago. And yet it is a little more than four years since Rodgers found himself as an out-of-work manager struggling to be taken seriously after Reading dispensed with his services.</div><div class="storycopy" style="border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px;">"I got the sack on December 16. It was 5pm on a Wednesday," he said. "My objective then, because it was the first time in my life I was out of work and out of football, was to make sure it did not spoil Christmas for my family.</div><div class="storycopy" style="border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px;">"I started writing to a few clubs to see if I could get a job, or even an interview for a job. I didn't get anything.</div><div class="storycopy" style="border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px;">"There were three clubs - I won't name them out of respect to them. I received a reply from two. Two were in the Championship and one in League One. I didn't get an interview and felt my managerial career was over before it had started."</div><div class="storycopy" style="border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px;">It had been another letter Rodgers penned that kickstarted his climb back to the coalface.</div><div class="storycopy" style="border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px;">This time it was written to himself, drafted on a sun lounger after Christmas was out of the way, chronicling everything he would do differently from his tenure at the Madjeski Stadium, where he won six of 23 matches, if he ever returned to the dugout.</div><div class="storycopy" style="border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px;">"I went to Dubai to reflect for 10 days and started to write in the sunshine about my experience," said Rodgers. "How it could have been different. What I could improve. What I should take into my next job. What areas would I be better in when I was next a manager?"</div><div class="storycopy" style="border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px;">The letter stretched to 11 pages, and the words he wrote provide the context of what he has gone on to achieve.</div><div class="storycopy" style="border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px;">There was a note to be more clinical in his approach, not wait for solutions to fall into place but confront the need to make big decisions. Consider the treatment of Andy Carroll, loaned out before he kicked a ball for Rodgers at Liverpool, and it can be traced back to that point.</div></section><section class="photo" style="border: 0px; display: block; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div style="border: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 16px; padding: 0px; position: relative;"><img src="http://cdn.images.express.co.uk/img/dynamic/67/590x/secondary/142203.jpg" /><span class="photo-caption" style="background-attachment: scroll; background-image: url(http://cdn.images.express.co.uk/img/page/caption_t_fix.png); background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: repeat repeat; border: 0px; bottom: 0px; color: white; font-family: Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; left: 0px; line-height: 13px; margin: 0px; padding: 3px 10px; position: absolute; right: 0px; z-index: 2;">Liverpool signed Philippe Coutinho from Inter Milan for £8.5m [GETTY]</span></div></section><section class="text-description" style="border: 0px; color: #333333; display: block; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px;"><header style="background-attachment: scroll; background-color: white; background-image: url(http://cdn.images.express.co.uk/img/page/box-header.png); background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: repeat no-repeat; border: 0px; display: block; margin: 0px 0px 1px; padding: 0px; position: relative;"><h3 style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; color: #292221; float: left; font-family: 'Open Sans Condensed', Calibri, Candara, Segoe, 'Segoe UI', Optima, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; margin: 0px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px 10px 0px 1px;"> </h3></header><div class="storycopy" style="border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px;"><br /></div><div class="storycopy" style="border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px;">Rodgers is able to laugh now at the day soon after his return from Dubai that he pitched up at the City Ground to watch his son Anton play in an FA Youth Cup game for Chelsea against Nottingham Forest. He had been left a ticket but no car-park pass, and he tried to wing it.</div><div class="storycopy" style="border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px;">A steward waved him away, pointing him instead in the direction of a public car park a mile away. On the walk back realisation dawned on Rodgers that he was on the outside of the game he loved.</div><div class="storycopy" style="border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px;">He was to be blown further off course with the death of his mother, Christina, from a heart attack at the age of 53, leaving her son mentally fatigued.</div><div class="storycopy" style="border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px;">"I got back from Dubai and was ready to go and my mother died on February 3," he said. "So I was there, out of work, and now had the two biggest voids in my life; the loss of my mother and football.</div><div class="storycopy" style="border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px;">"I was recovering mentally and decided to go to the gym, get myself fit and then start writing to a few clubs."</div><div class="storycopy" style="border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px;">There is a pause before he continues. "Then I got a call from Manchester City and I thought I'd probably have to go in the coaching game again for a couple of years to get my name back.</div><div class="storycopy" style="border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px;">"How it all worked out was I was sitting in McDonald's one day with my two children. I got a call saying Swansea were keen to speak to me. On the Friday of that week I became the manager of Swansea. That was the six months."</div></section><section class="photo" style="border: 0px; display: block; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div style="border: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 16px; padding: 0px; position: relative;"><img alt="Philippe Coutinho" src="http://cdn.images.express.co.uk/img/dynamic/67/590x/secondary/142206.jpg" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: 590px;" title="Philippe Coutinho" /><span class="photo-caption" style="background-attachment: scroll; background-image: url(http://cdn.images.express.co.uk/img/page/caption_t_fix.png); background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: repeat repeat; border: 0px; bottom: 0px; color: white; font-family: Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; left: 0px; line-height: 13px; margin: 0px; padding: 3px 10px; position: absolute; right: 0px; z-index: 2;">Rodgers was grateful to Steve McLaren for inviting him to be involved with FC Twente’s title charge [GETTY]</span></div></section><section class="text-description" style="border: 0px; color: #333333; display: block; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px;"><div class="storycopy" style="border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px;">In many ways, it was the making of him. He spent four days gaining unprecedented access to FC Twente's title charge under Steve McClaren and, remembering his treatment there, Rodgers now makes a point of contacting sacked managers and inviting them to Melwood.</div><div class="storycopy" style="border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px;">"People say, 'What's your success?' The word for me is 'failure'. That's how you succeed," said Rodgers. "Whatever way you dress it up, something hasn't worked.</div><div class="storycopy" style="border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px;">"For the first time in my life I felt I had failed at Reading. I probably read the script wrong thinking I had three years and instead I had 20 games.</div><div class="storycopy" style="border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px;">"Either I disappear and become an academy director, where I'd been for 14 years, or I show character and perseverance and go again. Thankfully I was able to do that.</div><div class="storycopy" style="border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px;">"I certainly have not had it presented to me. I found out the hard way. I respect former players and top players who get the opportunity - and rightly so - but I never had that protection. I had to go down a different trail. That fear of failure is what drives me on."</div><div class="storycopy" style="border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px;">At Anfield tomorrow, the arrival of Tottenham will serve as a reminder of how everything has come full circle. It was the 5-0 drubbing of Spurs in December that Rodgers regards as his watershed moment at Liverpool. There have been 11 wins and two defeats in the 15 league games since.</div><div class="storycopy" style="border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px;">"The Tottenham game was the moment where the players thought we had performed in a big game how we perform every day in training, and we had done it at a ground where we had struggled for a number of years," he added. "In that moment it went from having relief to having belief that we can win every game we play."</div></section></div></div>Samuel Weenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3626960579786365081.post-76967757852092330602014-03-21T20:12:00.003+08:002014-03-21T20:12:44.285+08:00Kolo Toure's Crazy Arsenal Trial<iframe width="640" height="360" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/e3zHiv0W-nI" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>Samuel Weenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3626960579786365081.post-87797004744332524772014-03-07T01:56:00.001+08:002014-03-07T01:56:14.500+08:00Philippe Coutinho Youth Futsal Skills <object id="flashObj" width="480" height="270" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=9,0,47,0"><param name="movie" value="http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9?isVid=1&isUI=1" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /><param name="flashVars" value="videoId=3210732764001&playerID=2538956444001&playerKey=AQ~~,AAACT2hWexE~,QV-ElXQT89XEkLQHlpWPz_5DAA2-uG70&domain=embed&dynamicStreaming=true" /><param name="base" value="http://admin.brightcove.com" /><param name="seamlesstabbing" value="false" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="swLiveConnect" value="true" /><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /><embed src="http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9?isVid=1&isUI=1" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" flashVars="videoId=3210732764001&playerID=2538956444001&playerKey=AQ~~,AAACT2hWexE~,QV-ElXQT89XEkLQHlpWPz_5DAA2-uG70&domain=embed&dynamicStreaming=true" base="http://admin.brightcove.com" name="flashObj" width="480" height="270" seamlesstabbing="false" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowFullScreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" swLiveConnect="true" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download/index.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash"></embed></object>Samuel Weenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3626960579786365081.post-67220462587805173482013-12-20T13:36:00.002+08:002013-12-20T13:36:25.953+08:00Come Back Xabi<iframe width="640" height="360" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/QiCV_rNS0GI" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>Samuel Weenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3626960579786365081.post-45856267354444316092013-10-26T08:56:00.001+08:002013-10-26T08:56:18.928+08:00Steven Gerrard grilled by 10 year-old Red<iframe width="640" height="480" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/Ifsu3SIC6kw" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>Samuel Weenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3626960579786365081.post-48571629039443688592013-09-24T22:30:00.000+08:002013-09-24T22:30:10.879+08:00Luis Suárez uncovered<a href="http://www.theguardian.com/football/2013/sep/24/luis-suarez-upbringing-liverpool-book-extract">Source</a><br /><br />Ana Laura Lissardy<br /><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian">The Guardian</a>, Tuesday 24 September 2013 14.41 BST<br /><img src="http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Sport/Pix/pictures/2013/9/24/1380025792341/Soccer---Luis-Suarez-File-008.jpg" /><br />Liverpool's Luis Suárez is expected to make his return from a 10-match ban on Wednesday against Manchester United in the League Cup. Photograph: Lynne Cameron/PA<br /><b><i><br />In an exclusive extract from a Uruguayan book, the Liverpool striker talks candidly about the years that formed him, from his parents separating to 'feeling fat' in the Netherlands</i></b><br /><div><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/football/luis-suarez">Luis Suárez</a> was the middle one of seven brothers growing up in Salto, almost 500 kilometers north of Montevideo, and when he was seven his family moved to the capital. He did not want to go (so much so that he stayed with his grandmother for a month when everybody left because they were unable to persuade him to come with him).<br /><br />But his family had no choice. There was not much work in their city and his father was employed in the El Trigal biscuit factory in Montevideo. So it was that when his mother got a cleaning job in Tres Cruces, the central bus terminal of the city, it was clear that the whole family would have to move. Luis did not want to hear about it, but in the end he accepted it. He spent the whole year in Montevideo and as soon as school was out he went to spend the summer in Salto again because he missed it so much. "The change of city, the way of talking — because they talk differently there and of course they make fun of you," he tells me.<br /><br />He missed the quietness, the security, being able to leave the front door open while they were sleeping and, above all, spending the day playing barefoot on the grass. "We came to a city where it was practically impossible to play barefoot on the grass. Of course I was going to miss it. But we had to get used to all of that as best we could."<br /><br />And so they did. He began to go to School No171 in the neighbourhood of Tres Cruces and to kids' football with Urreta [a boys' team] and then with Nacional of the AUFI [the national children's football association]. He made new friends … "Martín, Leonardo and Víctor. I practically lived at their home, because their parents loved me like a son and we treated each other like brothers." And it was with them and their parents that he used to go the games and to train.<br /><br />But then, just as everything was settling down again, Luis's parents separated and it was a hard blow for him. He was nine and he felt it deeply. In the space of two years his surroundings, his routine, his friends, his school and his family as he knew them had all changed. And, perhaps because of that, he rebelled against the reality that came crashing around him without offering him a choice in the matter.<br /><br />"They were tough times. My parents had split up and there was all the problem of us being a family that never had the possibility of choosing anything. I was never able to tell my mother or father 'I want these trainers' and have them buy me those trainers. It was the pure reality."<img src="http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Football/Clubs/Club_Home/2013/9/24/1380031195159/Uruguays-Luis-Su-rez-008.jpg" />Between 12 and 14 it looked unlikely that Suárez would ever play professional football, let alone play for Uruguay in the World Cup Photograph: Reuters<br /><br />And perhaps it was through his rebellion that at the age of 12 he discovered his freedom to say no. No to the new city. No to a new life. No to the fact that his parents' marriage was on the rocks. No to the new routines, the grass that you can't play barefoot on, to the fact that you had to live behind closed doors. And he said no to his studies and to football too, because that was his way of rebelling.<br /><br />"Up to the age of 12 I knew that I wanted to play football, but afterwards, from 12 to 14, I went through a phase in which the football wasn't going well for me and I didn't want to study. I didn't like to train. I only liked playing the games and that way it was going to be very difficult for me to achieve something. I got really angry. I was a rebel and that worked against me."<br /><br />His need to shout no to a reality that caused him pain and suffocated him was so great that he almost shouted no to his football career. He was in Nacional's seventh team. Him and 25 others. The following year three or four wouldn't make the cut and Luis would be one of them. Daniel Enríquez, the coordinator of the youth teams, said it very clearly to Wilson Pírez, the delegate of Nacional, but Wilson replied: "Give him another chance."<br /><br />It was not easy, but finally he agreed: it would be the last one. Wilson went to Luis, took him aside and said, very seriously: "It's the last chance you're getting. Try to take it. Don't let me down."<br /><br />Luis looked at him in silence. "Luis, if you want to go far in football, you have to take this opportunity."<br /><br />Finally, he had the chance to choose. And he thought: "I'm 14 years old and I can't know now if I'm going to be a professional footballer. But I have to try to go as far as possible. I have to try. I have to think about my family, my brothers, and that if I go far I'll be able to help them … I have to get on with it."<br /><br />And, seeing that some team-mates turned up to training in boots the club had given them, he also thought: "If you want those boots you've got to train." It was the first target of his life. His first mission. He looked at it, observed it weighed it up, and went for it, albeit with a tinge of uncertainty and incredulity.<br /><br />***<br /><br />And then he met Sofía, who would go on to become his girlfriend and later wife. She changed him forever. Sofía was 12 and Luis was 15 when they met. "It was a big change in every sense," he says. "I was very lazy about studying and she helped me to realise that it wasn't because I were a dunce that things weren't going well but because I wasn't interested."<br /><br />He stopped going out so much, started turning up regularly for school and leading a more orderly life. "I don't know why things weren't going well for me. But these are thing that you think about now when you're a father and wonder: How are you going to explain to your child what you did at school or that you didn't want to study? You think about it and realise that you were making decisions as a rebellious adolescent that were bad."<br /><br />Wilson had given him the possibility of choosing his future. He had given him freedom. And Sofía gave him the necessary confidence in himself to attain what he had decided upon. She had given him security. "I began to score goals," he says. "And I got to the point where I almost broke the Nacional youth record. The record was 64 goals in a full year (I think it belonged to Rubén Sosa) and I scored 63. Things like that gave you confidence."<br /><br />Then came the next blow. Sofía told him she was moving to Spain. It was decided and there was no going back. He was afraid and he felt lost. They would see each other, would make the journey every few months (they would buy as much time as they could with the little money they had), they would communicate over the internet, by telephone … but it would not be the same. So there would be only one way to battle the inertia of events and the decisions of adults. And that was by training. Like never before. Luis was playing in the Nacional youth set-up and, if he made it as a professional footballer, later he would have the chance to go and play in Europe, and that way he would be closer. That's the way he had to do it. And he had to start as soon as possible.<br /><br />"That was when I really realised that if I wanted to be close to her I'd have to work hard. I'd have to wake up. So I set to work much harder than I needed to. I wasn't free to go there nor her to come here because of the money situation. So I had to train to the max to be able to succeed in Europe."<img src="http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Football/Clubs/Club_Home/2013/9/24/1380031729302/Luis-Su-rez-008.jpg" />Suárez ended up playing at Ajax to be near to his then girlfriend and now wife, Sofia, who had moved to Spain aged 16. Photograph: Bryn Lennon/Getty Images<br /><br />Two years went by. Two years of training, matches, and of a few transatlantic trips snatched by luck, when he made his debut in Nacional's first team. "I'm one step away from what I want," Luis told himself. And all that stemmed from love. He began by wanting to be closer to Sofía. That's how it began and then he started to realise that it was true that he could do it and then he continued to set himself targets, one after another, and attaining them too.<br /><br />That was always his way of playing. "If a move doesn't come off for me, I want to keep trying it, and trying it and trying it. I really, really, really want to score. And I guess in life it's the same for me. If I want something, I really, really want that something. And if I don't get it, I get mad."<br /><br />All his desire to make it to Europe he put into his feet, and he began to kick with all his might, going for the goal. And so great was his will to score that he cried when he couldn't do it. Like when (he remembers to this day) over five matches he missed between 20 and 30 chances. "Luis, it's not so hard," he told himself. "Why are you missing so many goals?"<br /><br />And it kept on happening when he made his first-team debut, aged 18. But then Martín Lasarte, the coach, saw how he was suffering and told him: "Luis, I've got faith in you. Keep calm and things will work out for you. Don't listen to people. Don't listen whatever they tell you."<br /><br />The confidence came back. He relaxed. He believed. The management of Groningen had seen him in a game with Nacional and signed him. Finally he had achieved his objective; he left for Europe with Sofía and they went to live in Groningen, in the north of the Netherlands. He was 19 and she 16.<br /><br />***<br /><br />It was a small city of 190,000 inhabitants, cold, very cold, and with "very special" people, closed to foreigners. They were together again but so much change unsettled Luis and in his first few games things didn't go well. "It was a disaster. I was fat and everything." The leaders of the club began to wonder: "What player did we bring back? Did we make a mistake?"<br /><br />And Luis began to ask himself the same question: "Did I make the right decision?" Perhaps because he had already achieved his objective and needed another, which still hadn't imposed itself. But then there was a match in September 2006 against Vitesse, who wore yellow and black shirts [the colours of Nacional's rivals Peñarol]. And that was a special motivation for him, a Nacional fan.<br /><br />Groningen were 3-1 down in the 80th minute. Two minutes later his team scored from a penalty. "In the 89th minute the ball came to me, a team-mate crossed it and I knocked it in. Getting to 3-3 was a thrill. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atY9rhyYhkw">But in the 92nd minute I scored a goal where I even surprised myself, one on one with the keeper and with my left foot.</a> I felt enormous happiness. A relief."<br /><br />But he was even more surprised when, starting the following day, people began to recognise him in the street, congratulate him and ask for his autograph. In that unknown foreign land he managed to build his fortress. The club told him: "Well, he's started to show something of what we saw in him."<br /><br />The coach put total faith in him from that moment on and he told himself: "Now I can show what I came for and what I'm worth. After that match is when it all began. I became a player with confidence. It gave me such confidence that I was surprised."<br /><br />He has not looked back since. In 2007 he joined <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/football/ajax">Ajax</a> and, then, in January 2011 he signed for <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/football/liverpool">Liverpool</a>. The rest, as they say, is history.<br /><br />Ana Laura Lissardy is a Uruguayan-Italian journalist and author. This is an edited extract comes from "Vamos que Vamos", with the life stories of the members of the Uruguayan national football team that reached the World Cup semi-finals in South Africa 2010. Her next book, with the profiles of 10 people who followed their dreams (including the Olympic gymnastics Nadia Comaneci) will be published in December</div>Samuel Weenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3626960579786365081.post-77476707885955386182013-05-22T19:50:00.002+08:002013-05-22T19:54:23.406+08:00All Fernando Torres Liverpool Goals<iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/jZ0gMvbd3Pk?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>Samuel Weenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3626960579786365081.post-35149955278483458112013-04-27T23:04:00.000+08:002013-04-27T23:04:02.358+08:00Paddy Power Shootout<iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/47bb6HKfqOw" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>Samuel Weenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3626960579786365081.post-67863667354686170092013-04-24T13:59:00.001+08:002013-04-24T13:59:17.150+08:00Liverpool Memorable Cups Finals II 2001 - 2011/12 HD<iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/_fC3rUgyUqQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>Samuel Weenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3626960579786365081.post-3236040641915292182013-04-06T22:00:00.002+08:002013-04-06T22:00:31.860+08:00Liverpool FC - Perfect - 2012/13<iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Ud94O41Jsg4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>Samuel Weenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3626960579786365081.post-35949233480936007332013-04-06T21:58:00.002+08:002013-04-06T21:58:16.091+08:00Steven Gerrard - Class is Eternal || Goals and Assists - 2012/13<iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/_XDXNiBZX00" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>Samuel Weenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3626960579786365081.post-10012748943410766132013-04-06T21:54:00.002+08:002013-04-06T21:54:05.521+08:00Luis Suarez - A Legend in the Making || 2012/13<iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/CurZN9H6GsY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>Samuel Weenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3626960579786365081.post-38145648629324027052013-04-06T21:50:00.002+08:002013-04-06T21:50:25.738+08:00Philippe Coutinho - Liverpool FC Beginning - 2012/13<iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Qc9pix0CVYo" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>Samuel Weenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3626960579786365081.post-28929558131182690042012-12-12T18:16:00.003+08:002012-12-12T18:16:33.668+08:00Messi 86 GOALS in 2012 (as of 12/12/12)<iframe width="640" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/vY6m8sOjenU" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>Samuel Weenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3626960579786365081.post-4614544460258290742012-11-21T14:33:00.000+08:002012-11-21T14:33:31.062+08:00Fernando Torres explains Chelsea form and admits he preferred Liverpool<iframe width="640" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/eS8nEc_MExQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>Samuel Weenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3626960579786365081.post-2277693939526748002012-10-10T11:18:00.003+08:002012-10-10T11:18:59.474+08:00Luis Suarez - Bad Tackles and Uncalled Penalties thus far 2012/13 Season<iframe width="640" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/LeCZQ7nwD-Q" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>Samuel Weenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3626960579786365081.post-80159693294163636762012-06-27T23:03:00.000+08:002012-06-27T23:03:07.185+08:00All 168 Steven Gerrard Goals 1999-2012<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Z1D9RRML2As" width="640"></iframe>Samuel Weenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3626960579786365081.post-19852221309903532812012-05-31T03:40:00.001+08:002012-05-31T03:40:10.624+08:00Alberto Aquilani Memories - The Forgotten Man<iframe width="640" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Z30mR9cq4RA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>Samuel Weenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3626960579786365081.post-58260310060388463552012-05-22T20:13:00.001+08:002012-05-22T20:13:01.909+08:00Barnes on LFC, Barca & future<br /><br /><div class="cmsContent content-link-builder" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><div class="SubHeading" style="border: none; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 0.9em; font-weight: bold; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 24px; padding: 0px;"><a href="http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/news/latest-news/barnes-on-lfc-barca-future">Source</a></div><div class="SubHeading" style="border: none; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 0.9em; font-weight: bold; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 24px; padding: 0px;">John Barnes today urged fans to support whatever decision the club make in appointing a new manager and outlined why he believes the time is now for Liverpool to develop a long-lasting football philosophy that will set out a blueprint for success.</div><div class="ArticleRight" style="float: right !important; height: auto; margin-left: 10px; padding-right: 9px; width: 257px;"></div><div style="border: none; color: #4c4c4c; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 0.9em; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 24px; padding: 0px;"><strong>Talking exclusively to Liverpoolfc.tv in Bangkok, where he was managing the LFC team in the Standard Chartered sponsored EPL Masters Football Thailand tournament, Barnes talks in great depth about the role of the next Liverpool manager, how Liverpool ruled football without a true tactical football philosophy, the role of the fan and player in the modern era and what Liverpool can learn from Lionel Messi.</strong></div><div style="border: none; color: #4c4c4c; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 0.9em; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 24px; padding: 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" height="315" src="http://assets.liverpoolfc.tv/uploads/assets/fans_4d778a4a9ac36353881786.jpg" width="450" /></div><div style="border: none; color: #4c4c4c; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 0.9em; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 24px; padding: 0px;"><strong>John, Liverpool are looking for their fourth manager in two years. What's happened because, traditionally, Liverpool have never been known for such instability?</strong><br /><br />Well, it's been a bit of a shock because I would have expected Kenny to have stayed longer but obviously the owners have taken the decision to move in a different direction and I think this decision now really needs to be for the long-term. People always talk about long-term plans but I think now we have to believe in this decision, regardless of how well or badly we do in the short-term. If the club believes in a new philosophy then they need to stick with it. If it takes two, three or four years to fulfil the plan then we need to give the club time to realise it and make it happen.<br /><br /><strong>Why do you think the owners didn't believe Kenny was the right manager to implement the new direction they want to take the club in?</strong><br /><br />Well, only the owners know the answer to that question. I can't say why&nbsp;<em>they</em>didn't think he was the right man. They obviously thought he was right for them when they gave him the role but they're new to the industry of football and they've probably been finding their way. Whether they've taken advice along the way and decided that this is now what they've got to do, I can only speculate, but we are where we are now and it's time to support the owners because they want to return Liverpool to a team that competes for the biggest trophies.<br /><br />Ultimately, I don't believe that what went on in the past is important now. What is important now is the future so as to the whys and wherefores of why it didn't work or what went wrong with Kenny or should Kenny still be there... that doesn't matter. The important thing now is the way forward and until an appointment is made and the 'plan' manifests itself, everything else is just conjecture.<br /><br /><strong>Some fans have questioned the direction of the club and criticised the club for not revealing what the 'plan' is. Would you ever expect a football club to explain publically its intentions?</strong><br /><br />Well, Liverpool Football Club, probably more so than any other club, are renowned for not talking a lot and telling the world everything they're doing. Kenny himself has always said, 'The club's business is the club's business and when we have something to tell people, we'll tell people'. It's not necessary for fans to know the inner workings of any football club because we don't know the inner workings of any business. I don't think it's necessary for me to know what Liverpool are doing behind the scenes. I'm not interested in that. As long as&nbsp;<em>they</em>know what they're doing,&nbsp;<em>we</em>&nbsp;don't have to know what they're doing. I'm sure in the next week or two or three, it will become more apparent how we intend to move forward when a new manager is unveiled but I don't believe us fans need to know absolutely everything that is going on at the football club.</div><div style="border: none; color: #4c4c4c; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 0.9em; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 24px; padding: 0px;"><strong>Kenny leaving has obviously upset some fans because alongside Bill Shankly, he's arguably the greatest ever icon of this football club. Do you think in making this decision, the owners have been forced to look past sentiment and make a tough and possibly unpopular call with some fans?</strong></div><div style="border: none; color: #4c4c4c; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 0.9em; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 24px; padding: 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" height="495" src="http://assets.liverpoolfc.tv/uploads/assets/kd1.jpg" width="450" /></div><div style="border: none; color: #4c4c4c; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 0.9em; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 24px; padding: 0px;">At a football club, you need to make decisions for football reasons. That is the most important thing. If you make the correct football decisions, you'll achieve success on the pitch and the business success will follow. You can't get the business part right before the football part because everything is determined by success on the pitch. Get it right on the field and the off the field stuff will follow. You make a football decision and it affects the business - either positively or negatively. Kenny knows that. He understands it. As Kenny always says, 'The most important thing is Liverpool Football Club'. Liverpool Football Club was around long before Kenny Dalglish; long before the owners and will continue to be around long after us all. The club is the most important thing of all and the fans are the second most important component, because they'll always be there. These fans aren't going to be here in 100 years but new Liverpool fans will be. The fans and the club are what are important. Not John Barnes, 20 years ago or Kenny Dalglish now or Bill Shankly before that or anyone else in the future. The club is the most important thing and that is why I would urge fans to support the club and the incumbents of the club now happens to be Fenway Sports Group so get behind them and support any decision they take and trust them to do what is best for the club.</div><div style="border: none; color: #4c4c4c; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 0.9em; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 24px; padding: 0px;"><strong>There's a lot of talk about a new football philosophy being introduced at Liverpool. Have Liverpool ever really had a football philosophy? People talk about 'pass and move' but is that a true football philosophy?</strong><br /><br />Well, Liverpool had a philosophy of sorts but that was before comprehensive tactics came into the game in England. From Bill Shankly's time, it was all about getting the ball down and passing and moving - which really doesn't mean anything - but if you had good enough players doing that, it worked. The footballers basically made the philosophy, not the other way around. So when people talk about buying 'Liverpool-type' players, it wasn't that you came in and Liverpool really instigated anything in you or tried to change you - it just meant you could play. The greatest thing about Bill Shankly, Bob Paisley and Kenny Dalglish, first time around, was that they could spot a player who could come and fit into what was already going on. Nothing was particularly structured but the players could adapt to whatever style they came into. I always use the example of George Graham at Arsenal, who beat us to the league in 1989, as the first time tactics really became noticed in English football. There's always been tactics in European and South American football but in England it was always all about good footballers playing off the cuff, keeping the ball but not really playing with any structure. Graham Taylor at Watford was the first person to really introduce tactics to English football. His structure was organisation and it was very successful for Watford.<br /><br />Then George Graham took it to another level and as much as people talked about 'boring, boring Arsenal', they won the league and it was very successful. They were structured, disciplined and very tactically aware. Arsene Wenger then came to England and changed that whole culture of playing good attractive football but in a structure which Ajax and Barcelona have always done. So Liverpool, or any other team in England, has never really had that kind of philosophy that Ajax had. Rinus Michels started it at Ajax, took it to the Dutch national side then took it to Barcelona and Pep Guardiolla has just reinforced that because the Barcelona team that Pep Guardiola had was basically a reinvention of the Barcelona team under Johan Cruyff from the '90s which was in turn a reinvention of the Dutch team. So that philosophy of putting a template in place to teach to the kids from the age of 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 and right through to the first team is really an Ajax method which Barcelona and certain other teams have adopted. Andy Cole tells me that Manchester United has that now and that's what you need.<br /><br />You need to have a philosophy throughout the club - from top to bottom - so that you can develop footballers to help you win trophies. You don't develop footballers to play for other clubs. You develop footballers to fit into your system. Unless you have a proper philosophy, you'll find that players being developed in your youth teams may not fit into your first team because your first team doesn't play that way and that doesn't make sense. What a philosophy allows you to do is create longevity and success at a football club. If you look at the Barcelona team, they may always sign one or two superstars but the majority of the players are ones who've been brought up playing the Barcelona way. So first of all, you have to have a philosophy about how you want to play today and then you have to look at players who can fit into that style of play. Not just buying players because they are good or they are good at other clubs. You may go out and sign the best 15-year-old in the country but if the best 15-year-old in the country is a great outside left who puts crosses in and your philosophy is that you don't play with wingers, he's not going to be any good for your team. So first of all you need to have a philosophy and a vision for how you want to play and then you pick the players to fit into that system and not the other way around.<br /><br /><strong>Have Liverpool been guilty of doing just that in the past?</strong><br /><br />Well, first of all, I don't think Liverpool have had a philosophy of how we want to play. They've seen which players have done well at other clubs and then gone out and bought them and then hoped that it works. A lot of the time, it hasn't. With Ajax and Barcelona, because they know how they want to play, they can go and get the right player for their system. It might be an unfashionable player at another club, but he may fit into your system perfectly. Seydou Keita, at Barcelona for example, could move to a Premier League club and not do anything but he fits into how Barcelona play.</div><div style="border: none; color: #4c4c4c; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 0.9em; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 24px; padding: 0px;">With your own philosophy, you don't need to necessarily look at the best players in the world - players Liverpool might not be able to afford - but rather you can go out and buy a player who will do a better job in your team than they do in their current side but it may not cost you a lot of money.<br /><br /><strong>Twenty five years ago when you were playing for Liverpool, the club could go out and buy the best players in the country. Things are different now and what attracts players is not always success. Location, wages, transfer funds available, Champions League football - these are all factors that influence footballers' decisions in the modern game. Does that mean Liverpool need to be cleverer than ever when it comes to dealings in the transfer market?</strong></div><div style="border: none; color: #4c4c4c; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 0.9em; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 24px; padding: 0px;">Well, Liverpool were successful for two reasons back when I first joined the club. Firstly, we could attract the best players to the club and secondly, until Graham Taylor and George Graham came along, no one in England was playing cohesive, coordinated football that had any structure. Everything was just, get out there, pass and move, the manager massages your ego with 'Come on lads', 'up and at 'em' and 'get stuck in' shouts. West Ham and Norwich always had this thing of playing good football because they bought pretty players who could keep the ball but that's not a model for success because one day they'd play well and the next they wouldn't - they were inconsistent. So yes, we could buy the best players but on top of that, no one else was tactically able to combat Liverpool until Arsenal came along with George Graham and then, of course, Alex Ferguson did well at Manchester United and then Arsenal were transformed under Arsene Wenger. Everybody does it now.<br /><br />Now Liverpool are at a stage where they can't get all the best players in the world - so what do you do? You better come up with a system and a vision of how you want your team to play. Swansea are a good example, I suppose. They may not have the best players in the country because they've had players who've played with them in the lower divisions but they are still there because they understand that system they play. They don't need the best players but they are still competitive. But make no mistake; Liverpool can still attract very, very, very good players. They may not be able to get [Lionel] Messi but they can get very, very good players and with a proper system, which I'm sure the new manager will introduce, they can be successful.<br /><br /><strong>If this summer marks the start of LFC starting again - a year zero in football terms - then it's not going to be a quick fix, is it?</strong><br /><br />No. It took years for Barcelona to get to where they are now. They had it and then they moved away from it and now they've got it again. Under Cruyff they had it and then new managers came in and they changed the whole philosophy.</div><div style="border: none; color: #4c4c4c; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 0.9em; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 24px; padding: 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" height="321" src="http://assets.liverpoolfc.tv/uploads/cruyff.jpg" width="450" /></div><div style="border: none; color: #4c4c4c; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 0.9em; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 24px; padding: 0px;">The whole point of a system is that you don't change it. You don't change the philosophy. Ajax had it and lost it as well. New men come in with their own ideas and change the entire philosophy of the club and then what happens is that you're reliant on that manager being there forever to continue that. That can't happen so you have constant change and if you have constant change, there's no continuity and no stability. It's very expensive too as you waste money on players. On top of all that, it's rarely successful.&nbsp;</div><div style="border: none; color: #4c4c4c; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 0.9em; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 24px; padding: 0px;">A club needs a thread running right through it; Barcelona has that. It's like the whole concept of a technical director in Spain. Because it's not common in England, we don't tend to understand it but in Spain, the technical director will know the long-term plan for the club and regardless of which manager comes in - yes, he can bring his own ideas, but he can't alter the philosophy and football identity of that club - he has to buy into that identity of the club which is shaped culturally and socially by the region and by the fans and also by the way that they want to play.</div><div style="border: none; color: #4c4c4c; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 0.9em; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 24px; padding: 0px;">It's so important, not just because managers will invariably come and go, but because players will also come and go. You don't see many players at clubs for 10 years anymore so you can't just keep getting different types of players every two years and expect any type of consistency. Whereas if you know the kind of player you want in every position at your club, if your superstar player leaves, you can simply get someone else to fill that role.</div><div style="border: none; color: #4c4c4c; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 0.9em; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 24px; padding: 0px;"><strong>You talk about Barcelona a lot. Who is the most important person at Barcelona FC - is it the manager or is it the technical director?</strong></div><div style="border: none; color: #4c4c4c; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 0.9em; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 24px; padding: 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" height="299" src="http://assets.liverpoolfc.tv/uploads/barcelona450.jpg" width="450" /></div><div style="border: none; color: #4c4c4c; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 0.9em; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 24px; padding: 0px;">The traditions and ethics of Barcelona Football Club are the most important thing.</div><div style="border: none; color: #4c4c4c; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 0.9em; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 24px; padding: 0px;"><strong>What type of manager do you need to come in and develop a real football philosophy?</strong></div><div style="border: none; color: #4c4c4c; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 0.9em; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 24px; padding: 0px;">What you want is a manager with a very clear vision of how he wants his team to play football. That's the most important thing because when you're at a top club like Liverpool, you will be able to buy players who can fit into your system. You don't need 11 players like Lionel Messi to create a system. What will help is if you can get good players to fit into your system and then try and compliment them with a couple of superstars because there will always be times when systems don't work. Barcelona didn't win the Champions League this season because their system didn't work against Chelsea. They totally outplayed them and had loads of chances but they couldn't finish chances off. There was nothing wrong with their system but what they needed was a moment of individual brilliance and they didn't get it on the night. What a system does is give you a base for consistency. If Messi doesn't dribble around three players and score a wonder goal every week, it doesn't matter because 99% of the time the Barcelona system will beat you anyway. If every player understands their role within the team, that will breed consistency and with consistency comes competitiveness.</div><div style="border: none; color: #4c4c4c; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 0.9em; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 24px; padding: 0px;"><strong>Both the club and the supporters are going to need to be patient while things develop - because if it was an easy quick fix, everyone would be doing it, wouldn't they?</strong><br /><br />There needs to be a lot of patience - both in the boardrooms and in the stands. How long will it take? It will take a long time but it won't take as long as Liverpool fans have been waiting to see the team win the Premier League. So, yes it could take a long time to develop it and start reaping the benefits from it but maybe if a system was put in place 20 years ago, we wouldn't still be waiting to win our first title since 1990. If we keep changing the manager, the players or the system every one, two, three or four years, we could be waiting another 20 years to win the title too.</div><div style="border: none; color: #4c4c4c; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 0.9em; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 24px; padding: 0px;"><strong>Patience is not something a lot of the 'I want it now' generation seem to have though...</strong></div><div style="border: none; color: #4c4c4c; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 0.9em; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 24px; padding: 0px;">You need to ask these fans to support the club. There's a clue in the word supporter - that's what you do, you offer support to the club. If the Liverpool fans in 2005 didn't offer support to the team at half-time when we were 3-nil down, then Liverpool would not have won the Champions League. The fans could easily have turned their backs on the team and booed the players because they were losing 3-nil but if they had of done that, Liverpool would not have come back. It was the same in the semi-final of the FA Cup against Everton. One-nil down at half-time and not playing well but the fans supported the team and look what happened.</div><div style="border: none; color: #4c4c4c; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 0.9em; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 24px; padding: 0px;">So if you do implement a plan and there are times when things are not going well, think about how much the club needs your support and what unconditional support can actually achieve. I understand fans frustrations but if everyone is giving 100% and everyone is trying their best, then you need to be patient and you need to support them through thick and thin.</div><div style="border: none; color: #4c4c4c; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 0.9em; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 24px; padding: 0px;"><strong>If things don't go well instantly, the media can quickly turn...</strong></div><div style="border: none; color: #4c4c4c; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 0.9em; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 24px; padding: 0px;">The media exist to sell newspapers and, of course, negativity sells, especially in England, so the media have no role whatsoever to play in Liverpool's success. It's down to the fans and the club to stick together.</div><div style="border: none; color: #4c4c4c; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 0.9em; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 24px; padding: 0px;"><strong>The appointment of the next manager is now on the agenda but there are very different styles of managers out there. What sort of manager do Liverpool need to employ?</strong></div><div style="border: none; color: #4c4c4c; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 0.9em; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 24px; padding: 0px;">What sort of manager? The right one. What we have to do is respect the manager of Liverpool Football Club no matter who he is. The players have to give him that respect because if they have respect for the fans and respect for the club's decisions, they have to have respect for the manager. That's why I always use the example of Barcelona when it comes to how a football club should be. Lionel Messi might be the biggest superstar in the world but he respects his team-mates, he respects football, he respects the fans and he respects the manager - whoever that manager may be. Players should have no say over who a manager should be; they should not have any input into whether they believe one manager is better than another. Whoever the manager of a football club is, he is the most important person and everyone should respect him. No one can undermine him. This is why I talk about Barcelona and Lionel Messi because they understand how to be successful and to be successful you need to be a team.</div><div style="border: none; color: #4c4c4c; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 0.9em; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 24px; padding: 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" height="565" src="http://assets.liverpoolfc.tv/uploads/messi450.jpg" width="450" /></div><div style="border: none; color: #4c4c4c; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 0.9em; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 24px; padding: 0px;">Lionel Messi sees himself the same way he sees his team-mates. Forget the way we see Lionel Messi - we see him as being better than his team-mates - but that's not how he sees it. Financially he will get more money, he will get bigger sponsorship deals, he will get more kudos and all the rest but he still sees himself as the same as all his team-mates and also his team-mates on the bench. That's what unity is. They have respect for the fans and they have respect for the manager, whoever the club employs. That is what we need to do.</div><div style="border: none; color: #4c4c4c; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 0.9em; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 24px; padding: 0px;"><strong>What if Liverpool were to appoint a manager who is young and has not won anything yet? Would it concern you that Liverpool were trying to achieve success with a manager who has never tasted it so far in his managerial career?</strong></div><div style="border: none; color: #4c4c4c; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 0.9em; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 24px; padding: 0px;">Well, what is success? Is a manager guiding a team to safety - a team like Wigan, for example - less successful than Harry Redknapp guiding Tottenham to fourth or fifth? Which manager has been more successful in terms of working with what they've got? All you can ever do as a manager is maximise the potential for that team and if maximising the potential of that team means you finish fourth from bottom, and a team who finishes second doesn't maximise their potential because they should have finished first, the manager of the team who has beaten relegation has had a more successful season.</div><div style="border: none; color: #4c4c4c; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 0.9em; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 24px; padding: 0px;">Ian Holloway nearly keeping Blackpool up was for me a great feat than Carlo Ancelotti finishing second with Chelsea. So regardless of whether Roberto Martinez, who is one manager who has been linked with Liverpool, just kept Wigan up, that means nothing. Could Alex Ferguson keep Wigan up? Could Jose Mourinho keep Wigan up? We don't know but what Roberto has done is he has maximised the potential of that team and therefore if he goes to a better team, as long as we believe he can maximise the potential for that team, he will be successful.</div><div style="border: none; color: #4c4c4c; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 0.9em; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 24px; padding: 0px;">It's not about who is fashionable at any given time. It's about maximising the potential of the team you have. You need to look at how Martinez has done it - his methods and his philosophy in terms of how you want football to be played. There is no right or wrong way of playing football. Stoke play football the way they do and that's 100% right for them. I have no issue with that whatsoever. No one way is better than the other - however, if you are talking about the ethics and traditions of a football club, maybe you will say, you'd rather have Roberto Martinez than Tony Pullis. Tony Pullis and Stoke finished higher than Wigan did under Martinez and Tony's methods are fine - they may just not be right for a Liverpool, a West Ham or an Arsenal. Does the manager you want for your team like his team to play football the way you want and do you think he can maximise the potential of the players at his disposal and can he bring in players of quality to help interpret his vision of how he wants the team to play? That's the questions you need to be asking. At Liverpool you can do that. You don't have to spend £50m or £100m on players - look at Newcastle, they spent money wisely and bought great players. There are great players out there to endorse whatever football you want without having to spend a fortune.</div><div style="border: none; color: #4c4c4c; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 0.9em; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 24px; padding: 0px;"><strong>Should age or a lack of success be a determining factor in who you do or don't appoint?</strong></div><div style="border: none; color: #4c4c4c; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 0.9em; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 24px; padding: 0px;">Well, a lack of success would be an issue if you'd been around for a long period of time - say 10 years - and you've done nothing. Obviously it depends on what you consider success to be. As I say, Martinez keeping Wigan in the Premier League is success for me. In terms of age, I guess it has to be a factor because if you're looking for experience, a first time manager shouldn't get a job at a club like&nbsp; Liverpool if they've never managed before. Martinez has been around for maybe four or five years, he was at Swansea before Wigan, so while his age limits the amount of experience he can possibly have, in terms of the success he's had in the last four years, I think he has proven he is a good manager.<br /><br /><strong>If you had to design a new football philosophy for Liverpool, what would it look like?</strong></div><div style="border: none; color: #4c4c4c; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 0.9em; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 24px; padding: 0px;">[Laughs] How long have you got?! Well, first of all you have to decide what kind of football you want to play. It's such a comprehensive vision, it would take me so long to explain, you'd have to go through every position and go into detail on what is the requirement of this position - when the goalkeeper gets the ball, where should the full backs be? Where should the centre-halves be?&nbsp; Where do the midfield players go? You need to do that for every position and every different scenario that can arise in a game. Understanding the philosophy and the method is the most important thing. The workings of it will always be different. Graham Taylor, for example, his philosophy was a long ball game however everybody in their position knew exactly what was required from them.<br /><br />Formations mean nothing. Look at 4-4-2 for example... Watford played 4-4-2 and Liverpool played 4-4-2 but the way they played it was completely different. It's more to do with the players understanding their role in that team for 90 minutes. Every time the ball is in a particular position on the pitch, where are the players? What position do they need to get into to be in the correct area on the pitch no matter what the circumstance is?<br /><br />I've watched Brazil train and they go through this for hours and hours and hours. It's quite boring to watch but once you understand the method and you see it in action - as you do with Barcelona - it looks like they can play it with their eyes closed. It takes a long time to implement but once it's implemented and the players understand it, then what happens is you don't have to rely on players to do individual brilliant things to win you matches. Sometimes you need a moment of brilliance but for 99% of the time, it does work and if 99% of the time your philosophy works then you'll be happy.<br /><br /><strong>We talked a lot about the manager but obviously it will be the players who need to play for that manager. How important is it that they totally buy into the whole culture of the club and what it means to the fans?</strong></div><div style="border: none; color: #4c4c4c; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 0.9em; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 24px; padding: 0px;">It's massively important. What's most important is the respect that the players have for the fans and the region where the team is. When you join Liverpool from another club you need to understand what is required of them in terms of embracing Scouse life. For example, in London, because of the nature of London, the Arsenal fans don't necessarily have to have a relationship with the Arsenal players because you've got the West End and people in London see famous celebrities and how they act. They then expect their football players to act the same way.</div><div style="border: none; color: #4c4c4c; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 0.9em; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 24px; padding: 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" height="313" src="http://assets.liverpoolfc.tv/uploads/barnesbeardsley.jpg" width="450" /></div><div style="border: none; color: #4c4c4c; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 0.9em; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 24px; padding: 0px;">In Liverpool, you can't do that. When myself and Peter Beardsley came to Liverpool - and he was the most expensive player in British football at that time - we knew that we had to have a relationship with the fans whereas I don't think I would have had that relationship with the fans if I'd signed for Arsenal, for example. Newcastle is quite similar to Liverpool in that respect. That's what I'm talking about when I talk about Barcelona - and the whole Catalan culture. If you look at Messi, Xavi [Hernandez] and [Andres] Innesta, if they go out in Barcelona, they can't go out as superstars and ignore fans and ask for minders in restaurants to block fans from asking for autographs. They can't do that because they understand their club and their supporters. Maybe you can get away with that in London or Madrid but in Liverpool and Barcelona you can't do that. As a footballer, you can't behave like that if you're a Liverpool player. It's all about understanding the city, the culture, the fans and if you match that with a footballing philosophy, you won't go far wrong.</div><div style="border: none; color: #4c4c4c; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 0.9em; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 24px; padding: 0px;"><strong>Is it all intrinsically linked? If Liverpool players embrace the fans, the fans will embrace them and offer them more support and if they get more support, our chances of success are far greater?</strong></div><div style="border: none; color: #4c4c4c; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 0.9em; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 24px; padding: 0px;">You're trying to create harmony. That harmony was there in Istanbul. The fans supported the players that night and we know what happened next. The players have to give something back though and that's so important. Unfortunately we live in a culture in England where fans actually expect to be snubbed by players. They expect players to not want to sign autographs or to not want to talk to them because football players are aloof. But the important thing is not what fans expect, it is how you personally behave. What's important is not how fans see you, but how you see yourself. Fans may see you as a superstar who won't want to come over and have a drink or talk to them but you need to change that perception.<br /><br />You need to see yourself as a part of the community, which is the whole Bill Shankly theory. That was his philosophy - everyone being 'one'. Unfortunately with the advent of the Premier League, fans have become so detached from players - more so than in any other country. Look at the difference between how the Barcelona players act and the way lots of Premier League players act. The players there have the humility to respect football in the first instance and to respect the club and the fans secondly. That's a fantastic way to be. It's the perfect model and it's a model that Liverpool should aspire towards.</div><div style="border: none; color: #4c4c4c; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 0.9em; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 24px; padding: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="border: none; color: #4c4c4c; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 0.9em; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 24px; padding: 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" height="315" src="http://assets.liverpoolfc.tv/uploads/assets/fans_4d778a4a9ac36353881786.jpg" width="450" /></div></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><div style="border: none; color: #4c4c4c; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 0.9em; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 24px; padding: 0px;"><b><br /></b></div></div><br />Samuel Weenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3626960579786365081.post-63550528239310604422012-05-18T10:01:00.000+08:002012-05-18T10:02:02.064+08:00Rafa Benitez in no rush<a href="http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/soccer/news/20120322/rafa-benitez/">Source</a><br /><br />By liverpool's new Head of Communications, Jen Chang:<br /><br /><br /><div style="font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">WEST KIRBY, England -- Seated in a restaurant on a quiet afternoon, Rafa Benitez laughs as he tells the story of how he first stumbled into coaching. No, not the injury problems that forced him into early retirement as a player at the age of 26 and subsequent entry into Real Madrid's coaching staff -- but how he got involved with coaching one of the boys' teams at his daughter's school in Liverpool.</div><div style="font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">This particular boys' team had been losing a majority of their games and the school had asked Benitez if he'd be willing to help out. Benitez had originally demurred due to other time commitments, but one day had shown up to watch one of the games. He made a couple of tactical suggestions ( for instance one of the larger kids had been used in the center of midfield, while Benitez advised he should be deployed on the wing to place the player into more space) and armed with the new strategy the team immediately proceeded to win. A smile crosses his face as he remembers the postgame celebration, where some of the parents told him that he was "pretty good at this sort of thing" and should keep managing the team.</div><div style="font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">It's not just coaching youth teams that occupies Benitez's time. These days the former Valencia and Liverpool manager and most&nbsp;<a href="http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/jen_chang/08/02/monday.morning.musings/index.html" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">recently Inter,</a>&nbsp;keeps busy working with his&nbsp;<a href="http://www.rafabenitez.com/" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">website</a>, which in addition to highlighting his tactical observations, helps to promote the charitable works undertaken by his wife's foundation (which among other things, gives financial support to the Hillsborough Family Support Group). The rest of his time is spent watching games -- lots of them -- both in preparation for his role as a pundit for Eurosport but mostly for his own interest. "When you are not training or not coaching, you have to do a lot of things," said Benitez. "Some people just go on holidays and enjoy watching TV, but I like to analyze games, I like to know how teams play, the tactics, the players if they are good enough or not for the future if I [look] to sign players."</div><div style="font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">It's at this point that Benitez shows me what he and his staff have developed: a new coahing app for the iPad called&nbsp;<a href="http://globall-coach.com/" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Globall Coach</a>. It's a tool for coaches (both professional and amateur) that can be used as&nbsp;<a href="http://vimeo.com/globallcoach" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">a visual teaching aid</a>&nbsp;to facilitate learning. "The [initial] idea of a program was to show the fans the tactics of Istanbul 2005 when we won the Champions League [at Liverpool]," said Benitez. "The movement we were doing with Kaka between the lines and after, a line of three defenders. We started working with the IT people and thought 'why don't we create a program that we can use.'"</div><div style="font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">The app itself is incredibly versatile, it can even be programmed to assess the tactics of a specific game that one has watched. Benitez himself uses it after matches to examine a team's movement and analyze the shape of the game. We talk about tactics for a while as Benitez scrolls through various matches that have caught his interest as of late. He's particularly intrigued by what Borussia Dortmund does, "When I was a young coach, I liked AC Milan," said Benitez, "now I think Borussia Dortmund is doing a really good job. They play with four defenders high, they press high, they go with their fullbacks forward all the time, with wingers inside. If they have to play direct football they go to support quickly and if they give a goal away they press with 2-3 players on the ball. They're very good with their movements." Obviously the current Barcelona and Real Madrid squads also stand out, but Benitez is keen to emphasize that what helps make both teams special is their willingness to press when they lose the ball and the intensity of that pressing.</div><div style="font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">It's a fascinating conversation as Benitez notes the differences throughout various teams, leagues and compares both their schemes and the numbers. "The main thing for me is passes per game, passing accuracy and in particular final third passing accuracy." It's here that he points out that MLS is far below the other leagues (only a 58.7percent final third passing accuracy compared to 64-65 percent in England, Italy and Spain and with a higher propensity for longer passes, 15.8 percent compared to figures in the 13-14 percent range for top European leagues).</div><div style="font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="cnnDivideContent" style="font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="300" mozallowfullscreen="" src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/38880301?title=0&amp;byline=0&amp;portrait=0" style="display: block; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="400"></iframe><br /><div style="padding: 0px;"><a href="http://vimeo.com/38880301" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">LA vs. Real Salt Lake animations created by Globall Coach</a>.</div></div><div style="font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">As the tactical discussion continues, it's only natural to ask if we've reached the pinnacle of tactical evolution in the modern game. Just how much more advanced can the thinking develop? After all, many of the staples such as pressing, a high defensive line and zonal marking were in fact proposed or instituted by Victor Maslov, famed for his work with Dynamo Kyiv in the Sixties. "It's not the same systems they were using in the past, similar systems but there's now more pace, more intensity," said Benitez. "I remember an article when they talked about the time you had when you received the ball, I don't remember the exact figures but I think it said it was 4 seconds for Garrincha, 3.5 for Cruyff, 2 for Maradona, 1.5 seconds for the lowest etc.</div><div style="font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">"So it means you have less time and you have to do things quicker, you don't see as many people dribbling and running with the ball because the opposition are on top of you so quickly you have to pass the ball -- nowadays there's more emphasis on collective technique more than individual technique."</div><div style="font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">The conversation inevitably drifts to what Benitez is looking for in his next management job. He's certainly not been short of offers since leaving Inter, but he's in no hurry and is waiting for what he sees as the ideal project, a team that matches his desire to win trophies and a team that doesn't necessarily have to be in the Premier League. With his daughters happily settled in at school in the Liverpool area, Benitez is accepting of the fact that he might have to move on his own and commute when possible if his next job falls outside England. It's also no secret that Benitez would consider returning to Liverpool&nbsp;<em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">if&nbsp;</em>he were ever asked at some point in the future. It's not something he is keen to discuss and he is quick to emphasize his respect for the job that incumbent Kenny Dalglish has done, but there's a sense of unfinished business on Benitez's part, of the inability to complete his project at Anfield.</div><div style="font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">There continues to be a pervading myth in some quarters that Benitez had vast transfer sums at his disposal during his time at Liverpool. While it's true he spent around £223 million during his six-year tenure, in actuality, according to calculations by<a href="http://tomkinstimes.com/" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">&nbsp;Paul Tomkins</a>, author of&nbsp;<em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Pay As You Play</em>, his approximate total net spend was only £62M, a figure that puts Liverpool below the likes of Aston Villa, Sunderland and Tottenham over the same period. The figure drops further to £20.5M (if you include the subsequent sales of all players Benitez bought such as Torres and Mascherano).</div><div style="font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">"To be fair, everyone has had bad signings," said Benitez. "But if you analyze the current squad of Liverpool -- [Pepe] Reina, [Glen] Johnson, [Daniel] Agger, [Martin] Skrtel, Lucas Leiva, [Dirk] Kuyt, Maxi -- a lot of these players that are doing really well, they were signings that we did. So the people that talk about [Philipp] Degen or [Andriy] Voronin who were free, how you can compare them to the signings of [Fernando] Torres and [Xabi] Alonso? Even with Torres, Alonso, [Javier] Mascherano and the money brought in [with their sales] and still they talk about the other signings, the majority [of which] were not too expensive. "</div><div style="font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">We debate some of those moves that didn't pan out as planned at Liverpool such as the signing of Dutch forward Ryan Babel in what seems to be Liverpool's never-ending search for a potent winger. "Babel played in a 4-3-3 system at Ajax, " said Benitez. "But he didn't do well as a winger at the end, we were trying to find his best position but it was not going well. Babel was a young player that needed to understand the English game and he didn't." Benitez admits he had searched extensively for wingers while at Anfield, in hopes of replicating his use at Valencia of dangerous widemen Vicente and Rufete. One deal he confirms, which almost came to fruition, was that of Brazilian Dani Alves, then at Sevilla. "Daniel Alves was our first option on the right side," said Benitez. "The problem that we had -- I had to decide to bring Alves as a winger when he was an offensive fullback. It was a difficult decision as we had money at the time for only just one striker or a winger/fullback. We signed a striker, the striker was Kuyt, who to be fair has turned out to be a fantastic contributor to the club."</div><div style="font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">As for the much criticized sale of midfielder Alonso in the summer of 2009, Benitez explains that his plan had been to bring in both Alberto Aquilani and Stevan Jovetic. "Jovetic was our target but we didn't have the money," said Benitez. "My idea was to play Mascherano, Lucas, [Steven] Gerrard, Aquilani -- two of these four players in the middle and Jovetic between the lines, but we didn't have the money."</div><div style="font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">In theory, weren't the funds from the sale of Alonso more than enough to cover the purchase of both Aquilani and Jovetic? "You are right. In&nbsp;<em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">theory</em>," is Benitez's response.</div><div style="font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">The other stick which is often used to beat Benitez with is his relationship, or supposed lack of, with players. Too cold, too dour, too calculating say those same critics. It's a gross misrepresentation if ever there was one. In person, for those who know him, Benitez has always been warm and friendly. He explains his philosophy thus. "Normally the manager has to do his job, he cannot be the close friend of the players, it's an old style that does not [necessarily] work now. You have to do your job, you have to improve your players, you have to teach them, you have to coach them properly. At the end they will realize and see the difference. You cannot say there's no relationship -- every day we train, you can see managers that don't train for 3-4 days. I train every day with my players and talk to them every day, trying to improve them. "</div><div style="font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">As for not getting along with players, Benitez says it's simply not true and reels off a list of players he's still in close contact with, including several stars who some media outlets have falsely claimed to be estranged from him. Benitez might not text his former players as frequently as certain other managers do -- largely out of respect to their current mangers -- but as he shows me, he's clearly viewed fondly by many of his former charges.</div><div style="font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">By now, Benitez is running late to pick up his daughters from school -- as he's dashing out the door there's only time for one last question, one that has bothered the masses who've been reading the tactical blogs on his website. Why then does he include the goalkeeper when he's mentioning formations, why 1-4-2-3-1 instead of 4-2-3-1?</div><div style="font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">"I was saying 4-2-3-1, but if you go to coaches' schools they say 'oh you have to play with a keeper,'" smiled Benitez. "I've also had this conversation with some goalkeeper coaches and they all say 'listen, the keeper also plays' so I have to say it to keep all the goalkeepers happy!"</div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11px;"><br /></span></span></div>Samuel Weenoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3626960579786365081.post-11457526010505043822012-04-21T22:06:00.001+08:002012-04-21T22:06:06.999+08:00FATV Players Keepy Uppy Challenge<iframe width="640" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/MG3rQSTwgZw" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>Samuel Weenoreply@blogger.com0